jbb13's ERE Journal
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:53 pm
Hi all,
I discovered ERE in 2014 after my dad brought the book home (I read it and he didn't ha). I've read it a couple times and each time I intensify my game plan. So after reading it a couple months ago I thought I would check out the forum as a bit more to get my hands on. After reading a couple journals (and getting inspired) here I am creating my own.
About Me:
Currently enrolled at Virginia Tech as a dual major. Primary: Ocean Engineering. Secondary: German.
I am 22, quickly approaching 23, and am just about to begin my last year in college.
I've been recording expenses since May 2015 but didn't impose a budget until March 2016. The differences between passively observing behavior and actively directing it are quite apparent in my spending graphs.
I am living in a small apartment with my girlfriend who has also read ERE and is equally dedicated to becoming financial independent (lucky). We have been together 5 years (since the end of high school) and went to the same college. Right after high school we camped across the US and have been addicted to travel ever since, which resulted in 4 more road trips. If anyone is close to Colorado check out the Great Sand Dune National Park by the way. It's otherworldly.
Issues:
We both have a car, which will change when I graduate since I am going to convert to riding a bike. My car still has a loan on it so that's an expense on top of insurance and upkeep.
We both have smart phones, also going to change when I graduate, possibly beforehand. Really I only use the camera and send people pictures which was impossible on my former flip phone. Not sure if the technology has caught up with the basic phones yet?
Since I'm still in school I can't bring in much income so I've been focusing on cutting costs rather than upping income. We shall see where that is in a year.
Where I'm At:
Assets:
Currently I have $1,500 in an investment account. However, I'm studying investing and am going to wait until I have a good understanding before putting any principal at risk.
Liabilities:
Currently I have 30k in student loans, probably going to end up with 31k once I graduate. This doesn't have to be paid off immediately but I'm going to try to pay it off within the first year upon working.
My car still has 9k until it's paid off. Once I graduate I will sell the car, for 9k, and break even paying it off.
Spending:
I'm averaging somewhere around $1,500 a month:
- Rent $600
- Food $250 - $300 (too high but working on it). We cook every meal, unless we meet up with friends from out of town or something.
- Cars $286 (which kills me)
- Phones $70 (which kills me)
- Then random wants like ice cream or chocolate milk or eating out with the above mentioned friends $10 - $30 depending if we eat out or not
Here are what the graphs look like:
The orange line is when the budget was imposed.
I know the numbers don't add up since there are a couple things like random medical expenses or once a year travel expenses. But these are the main ones. So right now we are just under $20k for yearly expenses. After graduating and purging, my goal is to get that number below $10k.
Depending where I work, the plan is to live on board a sailboat, since we will be cruising for a bit after FI, to keep rent down. I'll have to run the calculations to see how much it is per month depending on the boat we get.
The goal is to be financially independent, with a 4% SWR, by age 26. So I have a little over 3 years.
Goals for Now:
Bring food costs down to $200 or less every month
Research basic phones or how to get by without a phone
Keep studying investing and put as much as possible into the investment account. Right now I have 60% of my income going into the investment account and using the other 40% to pay bills and stuff.
Get hired. The number one choice is Bridgewater Associates in CT. I want to work as an analyst and learn as much about finances as I can, not to mention working in a kind of extreme environment, which suits me, hence ERE.
I'll stay tuned with monthly or every 2 month updates depending on if anything exciting happens.
Don't hold back with any comments or questions, I don't have a problem discussing finances or personal situations.
jbb13
I discovered ERE in 2014 after my dad brought the book home (I read it and he didn't ha). I've read it a couple times and each time I intensify my game plan. So after reading it a couple months ago I thought I would check out the forum as a bit more to get my hands on. After reading a couple journals (and getting inspired) here I am creating my own.
About Me:
Currently enrolled at Virginia Tech as a dual major. Primary: Ocean Engineering. Secondary: German.
I am 22, quickly approaching 23, and am just about to begin my last year in college.
I've been recording expenses since May 2015 but didn't impose a budget until March 2016. The differences between passively observing behavior and actively directing it are quite apparent in my spending graphs.
I am living in a small apartment with my girlfriend who has also read ERE and is equally dedicated to becoming financial independent (lucky). We have been together 5 years (since the end of high school) and went to the same college. Right after high school we camped across the US and have been addicted to travel ever since, which resulted in 4 more road trips. If anyone is close to Colorado check out the Great Sand Dune National Park by the way. It's otherworldly.
Issues:
We both have a car, which will change when I graduate since I am going to convert to riding a bike. My car still has a loan on it so that's an expense on top of insurance and upkeep.
We both have smart phones, also going to change when I graduate, possibly beforehand. Really I only use the camera and send people pictures which was impossible on my former flip phone. Not sure if the technology has caught up with the basic phones yet?
Since I'm still in school I can't bring in much income so I've been focusing on cutting costs rather than upping income. We shall see where that is in a year.
Where I'm At:
Assets:
Currently I have $1,500 in an investment account. However, I'm studying investing and am going to wait until I have a good understanding before putting any principal at risk.
Liabilities:
Currently I have 30k in student loans, probably going to end up with 31k once I graduate. This doesn't have to be paid off immediately but I'm going to try to pay it off within the first year upon working.
My car still has 9k until it's paid off. Once I graduate I will sell the car, for 9k, and break even paying it off.
Spending:
I'm averaging somewhere around $1,500 a month:
- Rent $600
- Food $250 - $300 (too high but working on it). We cook every meal, unless we meet up with friends from out of town or something.
- Cars $286 (which kills me)
- Phones $70 (which kills me)
- Then random wants like ice cream or chocolate milk or eating out with the above mentioned friends $10 - $30 depending if we eat out or not
Here are what the graphs look like:
The orange line is when the budget was imposed.
I know the numbers don't add up since there are a couple things like random medical expenses or once a year travel expenses. But these are the main ones. So right now we are just under $20k for yearly expenses. After graduating and purging, my goal is to get that number below $10k.
Depending where I work, the plan is to live on board a sailboat, since we will be cruising for a bit after FI, to keep rent down. I'll have to run the calculations to see how much it is per month depending on the boat we get.
The goal is to be financially independent, with a 4% SWR, by age 26. So I have a little over 3 years.
Goals for Now:
Bring food costs down to $200 or less every month
Research basic phones or how to get by without a phone
Keep studying investing and put as much as possible into the investment account. Right now I have 60% of my income going into the investment account and using the other 40% to pay bills and stuff.
Get hired. The number one choice is Bridgewater Associates in CT. I want to work as an analyst and learn as much about finances as I can, not to mention working in a kind of extreme environment, which suits me, hence ERE.
I'll stay tuned with monthly or every 2 month updates depending on if anything exciting happens.
Don't hold back with any comments or questions, I don't have a problem discussing finances or personal situations.
jbb13